Biggles Takes Over
Biggles Takes Over is the first short story in the anthology Spitfire Parade which covers the exploits of Biggles and his R.A.F. 666 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. The part where Biggles takes over the squadron is original to the book and not a reworking of material that had been published before. The part where Bertie leads Tex O'Hara and Ferocity Ferris into their first air battle is a reprise of a story first published in Air Stories in February 1940. This earlier story omits the 666 Squadron context and places the three in "Umpty Squadron". It is entitled So This is War and is not to be confused with So This is War!, a different story which is the sixth in Spitfire Parade. In including this story into Spitfire Parade, Johns made some minor changes--see research notes below. Biggles Takes Over was adapted as a graphic comic strip in Le Bal des Spitfire, first published in French in 1992, written and drawn by Francis Bergèse. Synopsis Biggles is sent to take command of 666 Squadron, a squadron of misfits and disciplinary cases. It is hoped that Biggles can whip them into shape. He meets one of his flight commanders, Bertie Lissie whom everyone thinks is mad as a hatter. Their first encounter does not go well but Bertie proves that first impressions can be deceiving when he shoots down two enemy aircraft in the squadron's very first operational sortie. Plot (click on expand to read) Biggles arrives at Rawlham to take command of 666 Sqn and finds that Air Commodore Raymond has thoughtfully posted his old friend and 266 Squadron-mate Toddy to be his adjutant. On the desk is a letter from Raymond telling him that 666 is a special squadron which will be home to pilots with various disciplinary problems, misfits who would be a problem elsewhere but whom Raymond was certain Biggles could whip into an effective team. Raymond goes on to give details of some of the pilots, including Bertie Lissie, who Raymond described as "mad as a hatter" but Raymond reminds Biggles not to judge by appearances. Bertie was "a devil with a Spitfire" and "a wizard with a gun". Almost immediately, just to prove Raymond's point, a cat jumps onto Biggles' desk hotly pursued by a mongrel terrier. It turns out to be Bertie's dog Towser. Bertie also follows his dog in, dressed in hunting gear and tooting on a hunting horn. There is no time for further discussion, though. Biggles gets orders to launch aircraft to protect a Blenheim reconnaissance aircraft. He assigns Bertie to be 'B' flight commander with two new novice pilots "Ferocity" Ferris and "Tex" O'Hara and assigns his flight to the mission. George "Ferocity" Ferris, Merseyside amateur boxer and "Tex" O'Hara, Texan and ex-New York policeman, were tough customers who had learnt to fly at their own expense. Eager but inexperienced, they were nonetheless bound to underestimate their flight commander, who turns up, wearing his monocle and summoning them with his horn. "Where did England get the idea that she could win this war?" Tex asks. But Bertie shows a little of what he is made of when Tex asks innocently, what they would do if they ran into enemy aircraft. He thought they might come home. No--absolutely no, Bertie replies. Only the best men of each side will go home. No one goes home until he leads the way. They take off on a mission to escort a Blenheim which had been making a reconnaissance flight. The rest of the story is told from Tex's perspective as he accompanies his flight commander into battle. Despite reading up on combat flying and thinking that he knows all about it, Tex is totaly disorientated. One moment his leader is there and the next he has disappeared. Suddenly the sky is filled with aircraft. He tries to shoot at enemy aircraft only to find that they disappear from under him. Nonetheless, the mission is a success. The Blenheim is safely escorted back to England and Tex, Ferris and Bertie recover to Rawlham. Upon landing, Tex notices that all three aircraft have been badly shot up. Ferris tells Tex that Bertie had twice saved Tex by shooting off enemy aircraft on his tail. Bertie had shot down two Me-109s. Bertie comes over and commends his flight. Not bad at all, he says, but he reminds Tex to look at what he shoots at the next time--twice Tex almost shot Bertie's tail off! Going into the ops room to file their reports, Bertie takes off his flying kit and the others see that he wears the ribbons of the D.F.C. and A.F.C. Tex is suitably humbled. "I guess if I stay in this outfit long enough I shall learn a thing or two," he says. "Like how to win wars," Ferris adds in agreement. Characters *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Ginger Hebblethwaite *Toddy *Bertie Lissie *Tex O'Hara *George "Ferocity" Ferris Aircraft *Supermarine Spitfire *Bristol Blenheim *Messerschmitt Me 109 Places Visited *Rawlham Mentioned Research notes In adapting So This is War for Biggles Takes Over, Johns made certain changes to the text: *The original setting was somewhere in Northern France. Obviously this had to be changed to Rawlham. *Ferris was originally an East Ender, from Wapping. This was changed to Liverpool. We can only speculate why Johns did this. Perhaps it was to give fair representation to all parts of Britain. He already had a Cockney in Tug Carrington so didn't need another Londoner. In addition he had a Scot (Angus Mackail), a Welshman (Taffy Hughes). Ginger represented Yorkshire, Bertie represented the landed gentry and so on. *Ferris originally had a lightweight record at Blackfriars Ring. Since he was moved to Liverpool, this became simply "a fighting record". *Ferris originally had ginger hair and nobody in his hometown dared to call him "Ginger" because he was sensitive about it. For Biggles Takes Over his hair colour was changed to yellow and mention of the "Ginger" nickname was dropped. This was probably to avoid confusion with the real Ginger. Interestingly, in the graphic novel adaptation Le Bal des Spitfire, Ginger's hair is more yellow than ginger, and Ferris's hair becomes ginger again! *Tex had British parents. In Biggles Takes Over, this became Irish parents. Probably the same reason: there is no other Irishman in 666 Squadron. References to the past Incongruities Chronology References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War Two era short stories